Probe makes historic comet landing

[Bosonic]

Source: BBC

European robot probe Philae has made the first, historic landing on a comet, after descending from its mothership.

The lander touched down on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at about 1605 GMT.

There were cheers and hugs at the control room in Darmstadt, Germany after the signal was confirmed.

It was designed to shine a light on some of the mysteries of these icy relics from the formation of the Solar System.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30026398

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[Half-Century Man]

1. To boldly go where no appliance has gone before.

cool shit.

[shenmue]

9. I beg your pardon: did you miss the toaster landing on Mars?

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[Rhiannon12866]

13. LOL!

[Half-Century Man]

17. It's Disney

That was a guy (or gal) in a toaster costume.

[shenmue]

21. Noooooo

[sarge43]

2. What a breathtaking accomplishment

We're in the Golden Age of planetary exploration.

[mountain grammy]

3. Just watched the live feed

very cool, way to go!

[BlueJazz]

4. I hope the screws and the hooks work ok. The team can't get the engine..

...that pushes the probe (into the surface) to work. Cross my fingers.

[Orrex]

5. I don't see what's so complicated about it

All they did is shoot a bullet at another bullet and hit from a couple months and a couple million miles away. Big deal!


K/R!

[RebelOne]

15. What do you mean a couple of months?

This probe was shot into space 10 years ago and it has been traveling the solar system chasing the comet more than a couple million miles.

[Orrex]

16. As a rule, I do not use the :sarcasm: smiley. (nt)

[global1]

6. Catch A Falling Star........

Congrats to the ESA!!!!!!!!

I just feel bad that it wasn't NASA doing the celebration. Seems like the U.S. is falling farther and farther behind.

[world wide wally]

7. Yeah, but the Koch brothers are doing fine

[NorthCarolina]

8. Can't spend money on science and exploration, we have wars to fight. nt

[Plucketeer]

11. Too busy here

keeping watch for the Rapture!

[hunter]

10. Hooray! Very well done.

It's not exactly a "landing" in that low gravity. The trick was staying on the comet and not simply bouncing off of it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. Some of the pictures from this mission look like scifi...

[Bosonic]

14. Comet lander may not be securely anchored: ESA

Comet lander may not be securely anchored: ESA

Darmstadt (Germany) (AFP) - Europe's robot probe Philae may not be securely anchored to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after an apparent glitch with its landing harpoons, the European Space Agency (ESA) said Wednesday.

"There are some indications that they might not have been fired, which could mean that we are sitting in soft material and we are not anchored," Philae lander manager Stephan Ulamec told reporters at ground control in Darmstadt, Germany.

"We have to analyse what is the actual situation," he said as jubilation at end of the robot lab's seven-hour descent quickly turned into concern.

"We have to know exactly where we land, how did we land," said Ulamec, adding more should be known in "a few hours".

http://news.yahoo.com/probe-heads-towards-historic-comet-landing-092723386.html;_ylt=AwrBEiJUoGNUZCIAwuXQtDMD

[matt819]

18. Dear Europe

Well done. Imagine the things we can do together if we didn't have clowns like Cruz, Inhofe, and McConnell in Congress.

[sarge43]

19. Google just put up a cool icon of Philae

[Half-Century Man]

20. I remember when the USA looked up instead of starring into our wallet.